Rape on Trial

What does criminal justice look like in rape and serious sexual offences? Who decides whether a case proceeds? How? What happens at trial? Rape on Trial is documentary podcast taking you inside the criminal justice system so you can see for yourself how the criminal process works in rape and serious sexual offences, and how it doesn't. Based on in-depth case studies drawn from real-life case files...

We're back in court for the second part of Lionel's trial on two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13. This episode sees the remainder of the prosecution's case and the beginning of the defence case as Lionel takes the stand to testify in his own defence. Key topics and issues discussed in the episode: the importance of the ABE video interview; memory refreshing in the witness box under s1...

Rape on Trial is a fly-on-the-wall style documentary podcast giving listeners a unique and detailed insight into the real-life workings of the criminal process, criminal law, and proceedings. Through a series of in-depth case-studies drawing on case files and trial proceedings, we see for ourselves how the criminal justice system actually works in cases of rape and serious sexual offences, and how...

Rape on Trial is a fly-on-wall documentary-style podcast for listeners interested in the real-life workings of the criminal process, criminal law and proceedings. Through a series of in-depth case-studies drawing on case files and trial proceedings, we can see for ourselves how the criminal justice system works in rape and serious sex offence cases, and how it doesn't. In this episode, we watch th...

Rape on Trial is a fly-on-wall documentary-style podcast for listeners interested in the real-life workings of the criminal process, criminal law and proceedings. Through a series of in-depth case-studies drawing on case files and trial proceedings, we can see for ourselves how the criminal justice system works in rape and serious sex offence cases, and how it doesn't. This episode sees us back in...

Rape on Trial is a fly-on-wall documentary-style podcast for listeners interested in the real-life workings of the criminal process, criminal law and proceedings. Through a series of in-depth case-studies drawing on case files and trial proceedings, we can see for ourselves how the criminal justice system works in rape and serious sex offence cases, and how it doesn't. Another Crown Court somewher...

Rape on Trial is a fly-on-wall documentary-style podcast for those interested in the real-life workings of the criminal process, criminal law and proceedings. Through a series of in-depth case-studies drawing on case files and trial proceedings, we can see for ourselves how the criminal justice system works in rape and serious sex offence cases, and how it doesn't. Back from our trip to Northern I...

Rape on Trial is a fly-on-wall documentary-style podcast for listeners interested in the real-life workings of the criminal process, criminal law and proceedings. Through a series of in-depth case-studies drawing on case files and trial proceedings, we can see for ourselves how the criminal justice system works in rape and serious sex offence cases, and how it doesn't. This episode sees us ba...

Rape on Trial is a fly-on-wall documentary-style podcast for listeners interested in the real-life workings of the criminal process, criminal law and proceedings. Through a series of case-studies drawing on (anonymised) real-life cases and trial proceedings, we see for ourselves how the criminal justice system works in rape and serious sex offences, and how it doesn't. In this episode, we're...

Rape on Trial is a fly-on-wall documentary-style podcast for listeners interested in the real-life workings of the criminal process, criminal law and proceedings. This episode sees us back in the public gallery for another rape trial involving an intoxicated complainant. Instead of being in 'a Crown Court somewhere in England & Wales', however, this trial finds us in Northern Ireland. We're wa...

Want to see for yourself how the criminal justice system works in rape and serious sex offences? This episode sees us back in the public gallery of a Crown Court somewhere in England and Wales for the the final couple of days of Faruq's rape trial. Key topics and elements covered: prosecuting and defence counsel's closing speeches; judge's directions including that 'good character' direction, and...

Want to see for yourself how the criminal process really works in cases of rape and serious sexual offences? This episode of Rape on Trial sees us back in the public gallery of Crown Court for the third but not, it turns out, final instalment of Faruq’s rape trial. The prosecution concludes its case then it’s time for the jury to hear directly from the defendant himself: his account of that night,...

Episode 9 of Rape on Trial sees us back in Crown Court for the second day of Faruq's rape trial. Plunging straight back into cross-examination, the defence sets out to problematise, not the complainant’s credibility, but her reliability—dealing with the evidential difficulties posed by her level of intoxication and its implications re memory fragmentation, confabulation and contamination. We see h...

As Rape on Trial continues its examination of the investigation and prosecution of rape and serious sexual offences in the UK criminal justice system, we are back in Crown Court for our fourth rape trial. Faruq, a taxi driver, is charged with raping Emily, a lone, intoxicated student he picked up in the street after she had been thrown out of a nightclub and separated from her friends: another rap...

Episode 7 sees us back in Crown Court for the conclusion of Dean’s trial. The kind of case the mainstream says shouldn’t succeed: an intimate partner relationship rape; one person’s word against another’s; no corroborating evidence; no forensic evidence; no witnesses; and the toughest cross-examination of a rape complainant we have seen so far with Anya painted as the angry and vengeful ex-partner...

Episode 6 of Rape on Trial sees us back in Court 2 as Dean's rape trial continues. Dean stands accused of rape and sexual assault against Anya, his girlfriend/partner at the material time. We pick up where we left off in episode 5, with Anya about to undergo cross-examination. In contrast to the cross-examination of rape complainants in Tariq and Jerome's trials, Anya's experience in the witness b...

As Rape on Trial continues, we're back in the public gallery of the Crown Court for Dean’s trial. He is charged with numerous counts of violence against the person offences relating to two previous partners, Erica and Anya. He also stands accused of a single charge of rape and one of sexual assault perpetrated against Anya, his partner at the time. As in previous episodes, Dean’s trial involves an...

Episode 4 of Rape on Trial sees us back in court for the conclusion of Jerome’s trial for the robbery of five sex workers and rape of one; another case involving what the conventional wisdom tells us is the wrong kind of rape and the wrong kind of victim and shouldn't result in convictions. As in Tariq's case, this trial, and the jury’s verdict, raise difficult questions for mainstream accounts of...

We’re repeatedly told that juries only convict in “real rape” cases with “ideal victims.” Episode 3 of Rape on Trial continues to challenges those assumptions. We're back in Crown Court for the trial of Jerome who stands accused of robbing five women and raping one. The complainants are all sex workers, and the conduct of the trial—and its outcome—raise important questions about the prominence and...

Want to know how the criminal justice system really works in cases of rape and serious sexual offences? Rape on Trial continues with the second of our two-part season opening. We're back in the public gallery of Crown Court for the final days of Tariq's trial for rape and false imprisonment in a case the conventional wisdom tells us shouldn't result in conviction: one person's word against another...

Want to know what the investigation and prosecution of rape and serious sex offences really looks like in the UK today? In this, the first of two introductory episodes taking us straight to the heart of criminal process, we're in a Crown Court somewhere in England & Wales watching a real-life rape trial; the kind of case heard up and down the country every day. Tariq* is charged with rape and...

Introducing Criminal Justice in Action’s first season, Rape on Trial, where we examine how rape and serious sexual offences are investigated and prosecuted in England and Wales: a probing, comprehensive, and, crucially, evidence-based look at how the criminal process works in these cases in practice, when it doesn't, and why it matters. Whether you're a student of law, criminology, social sciences...